Kobe in 2009 NBA Finals = Still Unstoppable
Choke - defined today as to miss two game winners in an NBA Final. Courtney Lee just did that as the Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a 101-96 overtime win over a rejuvenated Orlando Magic squad. Instead of tying the best of seven serieas at 1-1, the Magic are now 0-2 and are bound to duplicate the feat of the only other Magic team that went to the finals in 1995 led by Kobe Bryant's former team mate Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant was again his usual self as he scored 29 points with 8 assists to boot. The only problem with Bryant and Dwight Howard was that both superstars had the same number of turnovers - seven!
The game winner blocked from behind
The Magic's primary gunners made up for their so-so performance in Game 1 with a brilliant effort to steal game 2. Rashard Lewis rose from the grave and responded with 34 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal as he combined with Hedo Turkoglu who scored 22 points with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Lewis and Turkoglu was a combined 9 of 18 from the three point area while the rest of the Magic just shot 1 of 12 from beyond. Dwight Howard was a presence inside with 17 points and 16 rebounds but was just adequate as Pau Gasol negated his efforts as the Spaniard had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Pau the opera singer
For a moment it seemed like the Magic were on the path for another road win as they came out more fired up, improved their rebounding, had more offensive rebounds, had more points in the paint more second chance points and kept Kobe relatively quiet at times. During the fourth quarter, the Magic were on their way to win the game when Kobe and Pau Gasol combined to score the last 12 points of the Lakers in the regulation peroid. In overtime Pau Gasol teamed up with Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom to seal the win.
Odom and Gomorah
Game three promises to be another nail biter as the Magic try to defend their homecourt for three consecutive games and hope that the ghost of 1995 won't haunt them as the Lakers gun for a sweep of the 2009 NBA Finals. To give more hope for the Magic, the last team to win the NBA title after trailing 0-2 was the Miami Heat in 2006. Hope springs etermal for the Magic as this loss will help them regroup and hopefully do good in games 3 and 4 with a possibility of game 5. The Lakers on the other hand are on a mission to win 2 "mo!" enroute to their 15th Title. Wednesday is Game 3, do stay tuned.
Choke adds life
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